Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Wheaton College Prof. in Muslim Garb for Christmas

A political science associate professor at a well-known evangelical college in suburban Chicago is wearing a hijab to class and everywhere else during Advent to show “religious solidarity with Muslims” and to launch a Christian movement with Islam by wearing the mandatory head scarf for oppressed Muslim women.

“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”-- Professor Larycia Alaine Hawkins, Wheaton College faculty member since 2007

The professor says as part of the Advent season, she will wear the hijab “to work at Wheaton College, to play in Chi-town, in the airport and on the airplane to my home state… and at church.”

Hawkins notes that she checked first with the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] to make sure it was not offensive in any way for non-Muslim women to wear the hijab and she invites other women to join her effort as a way to express support and unity.

[Hawkins wrote:] "I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind — a cave in Sterkfontein, South Africa that I had the privilege to descend into to plumb the depths of our common humanity in 2014."

"I invite all women into the narrative that is embodied, hijab-wearing solidarity with our Muslim sisters — for whatever reason. A large scale movement of Women in Solidarity with Hijabs is my Christmas #wish this year," Hawkins continued. "Perhaps you are a Muslim who does not wear the veil normally. Perhaps you are an atheist or agnostic who finds religion silly or inexplicable. Perhaps you are a Catholic or Protestant Christian like me. Perhaps you already cover your head as part of your religious worship, but not a hijab."

"I asked whether a non-Muslim wearing the hijab was haram (forbidden), patronizing, or otherwise offensive to Muslims. I was assured by my friends at CAIR-Chicago that they welcomed the gesture," she explained. "So please do not fear joining this embodied narrative of actual as opposed to theoretical unity; human solidarity as opposed to mere nationalistic, sentimentality."

. . . in a more recent post she explained she had received criticism "almost exclusively from other Christians."

She said her position was "one held for centuries by countless Christians (church fathers, saints, and regular Christian folk like)" and insisted that "asserting our religious solidarity with Muslims and Jews will go a long way toward quelling religious violence and enervating religionist fear of the religious other."

Hawkins' gesture has been welcomed by the council on American-Islamic relations [CAIR] . . .

Since her controversial Facebook post last Thursday, Hawkins said that at least ten other people, including students, friends and even a mother of one of her former students, have told her that they will be taking part in wearing hijabs this Christmas season. She is not certain if all of them plan on wearing the hijab throughout the entire Advent or just for a day or two.

"I think that is the kind of unity through religious diversity that I am trying to accomplish through this is to have unity with women who are easily targeted because they wear their religion on their head," Hawkins stressed. "I really find it imperative to think about what it means to coexist as religionists. There are Christian missionaries who uphold these models of the faith who are doing the same thing as a way of reaching out to Muslims even as they try to spread the gospel. I am not sure if we see this is a way of sharing the gospel or as an act of religious solidarity. I think people do it all the time, just not in the U.S."

"I think woman wearing a cross or a man wearing a cross isn't necessarily deemed Christian but a woman wearing a hijab is always assumed to be Muslim, even though Jesus' mom wore a hijab. Mary, the mother of God, wore a hijab," Hawkins highlighted. " The context in the time is fortuitous to remind ourself that in some context, this is a cultural element of dress. Some of my friends who are missionaries in the Middle East wear the hijab while they live there everyday."

. . . Wheaton Provost Stanton Jones recommended last month that the school begin the termination proceedings for Hawkins, who was placed on administrative leave in mid-December after she asserted that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

On Saturday, it was announced in a press release that the school and Hawkins "found a mutual place of resolution and reconciliation." The statement added that the two sides "reached a confidential agreement under which they will part ways."

Although Hawkins issued a four-page theological statement on the matter days after she was suspended, the institution still felt that more theological discussion was needed before she could return to teach. Hawkins, however, made it clear to the administration that she would no longer have theological dialogue over the matter.

[Wheaton College President Philip] Ryken said reconciliation is not always easy or perfect, but the college and Hawkins are "moving forward in genuine friendship, wishing each other well and wanting to bless each other in our work."

The debate over Hawkins' comments continues to resonate throughout the Wheaton College community. Even as Ryken and Hawkins stood together in Chicago, roughly two dozen students, alumni and religious leaders were gathering outside the school's Edman Chapel to announce the launch of a nationwide fast that calls upon the Wheaton community and other evangelical Christian institutions to "confess and repent of the sins of racism, sexism and Islamophobia, and recognize that all humans have dignity and are created equal in the eyes of God."

As president, Ryken said he is committed to restoring "what is lost and repair what is broken" on campus. To do that, he has asked the college's board of trustees to review ways the college can improve how it addresses faculty and personnel issues in the future, particularly when questions arise that relate to the college's statement of faith. He added that the school stands for religious freedom and against the repression of anyone, including Muslims.

Wheaton College theology professor George Kalantzis said Hawkins provided great spiritual and moral leadership, as well as a safe and inviting learning environment, on a campus that greatly needed it.